As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good stud earring. Studs with great design add such an understated detail to your outfit that makes you feel pulled together and special. At least for me anyway. We don’t put much about fashion on here but I do love me some jewelry. (click through the image to be taken to the listing)

These stud earrings from Hash and Chez are made from recycled or found materials. The geometric lines and throw back color palette make them feel fashionable and modern. I love the peach and gold combo above. The feminine colors mixed with the hard lines make these work for me.

They’ve got an excellent selection of dangle earrings too if studs aren’t your thing. The ones above seem like a futuristic puzzle piece. Love it. I also completely love what they say in their profile, “We are not reinventing the wheel, just makin’ it roll with style.”

You can’t go into Anthropologie without noticing their beautiful displays. Honestly, I know I just sound like a broken record from all the other design bloggers, but this place totally deserves all the acclaim. The store is packed with inspiring home design. For instance, this wall display above really caught my eye. The friend I was with (Hi, Jenn!) pointed out the pennies. Which are behind that lamp and I did an awful job photographing them. But the framed pennies were displayed to where shinny new pennies faded into completely oxidized ones. It was really beautiful.

I also loved the art work with color blocked frames. So cool and inspiring. They mixed the color blocked frames with solid ones and then also with wood. Mixing a neutral with two other colors really makes this gallery wall look complete and pulled together. Totally inspiring for some of the blank walls in my house.

Also, I totally caved and finally bought Design Sponge at Home. Just flipping through the first few pages and I knew that I was going home with this book. I’ve resisted buying it for so long just because, well, I’m dumb. (I’ve got other reasons but mostly those just deduce into me being dumb) Oh, and this one from Anthro says it has 16 extra pages for their customers only. I’m intrigued.

The iGattipardi tiles are a glazed porcelain tile series by 14 Oraitaliana available through Stone Source. I’ve loved tile since I started doing mosiacs my freshman year in college. These are so striking and graphic they would be an awesome addition to any home.

Each tile is 2’x2′ and so the designs create so much impact. I think how large these tiles are is the most impressive aspect to them (next to the design, of course).

Each tile is truly beautiful and I wish that I could use these in my rental kitchen. I’m loving that black, white, turquoise, and mustard tile above. So pretty and graphic!

]]>http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/12/inspired-tile-design-by-14-oraitaliana/feed/2http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/12/inspired-tile-design-by-14-oraitaliana/Sofa Shopping at EQ3http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SoEclectic/~3/LG-hRrRYvzw/
http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/11/sofa-shopping-at-eq3/#commentsWed, 12 Sep 2012 00:06:46 +0000http://soeclectic.com/?p=6057Trust me, readers, I am still so busy finishing up this move! Oddly, I feel more relaxed about time than I should and more stressed about money than I should. I’m hoping that a switch will flip and I’ll feel more pressure to finish up the last little bits of packing tonight or tomorrow… but for now, I’m nursing a mild headache and otherwise curled up under a blanket rewatching an episode of Dance Moms. Watching Dance Moms is an obvious sign that I’m stressed out and losing it!

To cope, I’m starting to dream about the new house! Seriously, on Sunday night, I was too excited to sleep just thinking about all the fun ahead of me!

One of the things we’re planning to change soon after we move is our couch situation. Ours are nice and look fine but they’re kind of worn down in spots. Kyle basically loathes them, and I agree it’s time for a change.

Right now, I’m really into these couches from EQ3.

I really like the back cushion on the Elise Sofa and the softer lines look comfortable.

I also really like the Reverie Sofa for a lot of the same reasons. I think the two rows of buttons and the two cushions look really masculine which is the feel I’m going for in the bedroom. We can also buy this one locally from Nebraska Furniture Mart in a great grey color. We might have to go check that out after we get moved. It really is gorgeous!

It also comes in leather, which is what Kyle really wants, but I’m not sure if we can get it in leather through a store in our area. The actual show rooms are mostly all in Canada, so it’s not an easy drive if we can’t get one close by.

As much as it will frustrate me to be living in a house that isn’t decorated exactly how I want it for a while, it’s pretty fun to be thinking about decorating something new!

]]>http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/11/sofa-shopping-at-eq3/feed/0http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/11/sofa-shopping-at-eq3/Eclectic Thrift Share: Vintage scrabble, afghan, and clotheshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SoEclectic/~3/T5xIqIonxz0/
http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/10/eclectic-thrift-share-vintage-scrabble-afghan-and-clothes/#commentsMon, 10 Sep 2012 23:00:42 +0000http://soeclectic.com/?p=6048This weekend Brendan and I made a quick trip to Fredricksburg, Texas. It’s a day trip from Austin and truly a great little town. It is packed full of local shops and wineries. They are also known for their antique stores and markets. I, of course, didn’t hit up any of that except for some breakfast tacos from Mahaley’s and some fantastic sandwiches from Opa’s for lunch.

I set out in search of the garage and estate sales and the thrift stores. Naturally.

At the first estate sale I stopped at, I could have gotten myself in some serious trouble. Loads of beautiful and barely worn vintage. Everything there was so well taken care of including this adorable 1958 Scrabble for Juniors set. Look at those illustrations!

I snagged this with all of its pieces for $3!

Then I spotted this perfect granny square afghan with raised flowers. It’s in fantastic condition and perfect for my neice! $2.50!

I love vintage, handmade linens. Such skill! I wish these skills had been passed down to me. My grandmother was fantastic knitter and crocheter and my great grandmother was a master seamstress. What I wouldn’t give to be taught the same craft. Is that true for you too? This makes me want to take some knitting and crochet lessons…

Then, I scored these Cole Haan tassel loafers for $3! The only reason I buy second hand shoes is if they are solid quality. These are and range in price on Etsy and Ebay for between $30-$60. Brand new, they cost over $100.

When I got back to Austin, I still had the thrifting bug so I stopped in an estate sale for 50% off Sunday! The best. I got this vintage wool full length coat for $1.50. I mean that’s crazy. $1.50! I couldn’t pass it up at that price and it’s in perfect condition. Looks like it was never worn, which could possibly be true because we live in Austin.

Mary’s Picks

These quilts by Meg Callahan featured on Design Sponge this week are completely amazing. You know I love quilts because they’re such a fantastic work of art. This quilt above, entitled Caddo, is stunning and I want it for my bed or just to hang on the wall. Beautiful!

Cupcakes for two? Yes, please. I’m always wanting to make dessert but with only two of us in the house making 12 servings of something is a no go. So this vanilla cupcake recipe from How Sweet It Is is awesome. I made it the other night. I may or may not have eaten both cupcakes.

Jess’s Picks

Great news! We got the house we wanted! We’ll be packing this weekend and moving in next weekend. Everything still feels like a total blur, but at least I know we’re moving in to a beautiful, comfortable house.

One of the things I’m already planning to do is display all of my pretty scarves! I know these aren’t scarves, but I think this corner display at Oh Joy! will be great inspiration. Oh Joy! also got a facelift! It’s beautiful.

]]>http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/05/serpent-sea-hand-woven-mats/feed/0http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/05/serpent-sea-hand-woven-mats/Augh! Moving!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SoEclectic/~3/LtMix0DrxMc/
http://soeclectic.com/2012/09/04/augh-moving/#commentsWed, 05 Sep 2012 01:04:09 +0000http://soeclectic.com/?p=6013Well, it’s been a week since I first got offered a position in Kansas City. I’m really excited to start my new job but right now I feel basically totally overwhelmed.

This is what we have to do:

Pack our house

Rent our house

Find a house to rent

Move

Replace the sump pump

Fix the damaged shower floor tile

Little odds and ends things

Uggggh.

We are running the credit and background checks on our potential renters. We found a couple we really like and they have three children who I’m sure will make much better use of the three upstairs bedrooms than we have.

We are also having a credit/background check ran on ourselves currently. Kyle went rental house shopping last Wednesday and found a neighborhood that we love! He looked through several houses and called about a few others. Sunday, we went together and looked through three houses. We found one that would mostly work for our needs.

It’s really cute, has a fenced backyard, and has three bedrooms — which would mean we wouldn’t need to downsize our bed collections and could house a couple friends for a night. The downsides are that the bedrooms are super small. Likely, we would use the middle bedroom for our bed and the front bedroom as a kind of dressing room. I’m not even totally positive that the bedroom we intend to use would fit our king-size bed.

The kitchen is also fairly lacking.

That picture shows all of the cabinet space! Note the lack of a dishwasher and garbage disposal! Those are manageable flaws, but it had enough that we thought it was worth it to go back and look again yesterday.

Especially worth it because the house we’d gotten a call about was this one:

GORGEOUS.

That’s the word I have for this one.

Look at the inside!

This house is obviously beautiful, and even though it’s only two bedrooms… we really only wanted two bedrooms and they’re a much better size with much more convenient closets. The landlord who has been rehabing this house is understandably very protective of it, so we’re really hoping we clear the credit and background checks (I don’t know why we wouldn’t!). I’ll feel so much better when this is all definite.

Well… when this is all definite and our house is packed, we’ve received the deposit + rent check from the new tentants, and we’re moved into the new place.

Moving is way too much stress when you’re also trying to finish up one job and start a new one. Wish us luck!

Mary’s Picks

There goes that Emily Henderson again being super awesome. I love this post on helping out couples with their differing styles of decor. Fortunately, Brendan and I comprise like champs (sometimes him more than me, because he’s awesome) but this post from Emily has some great direction. Also, this line “I mean, if this thing were in hot pink it would be amazing and i would be divorced.” totally made me laugh out loud. (The image above is her living room.)

The City Wide Garage sale is in Austin this weekend. Pro tip: if you plan on going snag up a Vintage Around Town Guide from a local vintage shop. There is a free coupon to CWGS in there. You should go. For reals. I wrote about it here and I mean, those tables piled high with linens are worth the trip alone.

Last week I wrote about Ashley Ann going to China to finally meet her daughter she is adopting. It’s a beautiful story and she’s posted about it all week. Hope on over and read. Also, grab a tissue because you’ll need it. Love.

Jess’s Picks

I got some really big news this week! I just accepted a new position at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, so I’m finishing up some things in my current position but by the end (or middle) of next month, I’ll be blogging from Kansas City! Lots of changes coming up very quickly. I’ll admit, I’m a little stressed.

Wow! This Quick and Easy Outdoor Lighting tutorial is super cheap and has some great results! We might have to turn this into a solution at whatever rental we end up at in the next few weeks. The neighborhood we’re looking at has some cute insides but not as much curb appeal. These little lights are a great way to add a touch of us to the exterior.

]]>http://soeclectic.com/2012/08/31/friday-reader-roundup-56/feed/0http://soeclectic.com/2012/08/31/friday-reader-roundup-56/Tying the Knot(s): Knot Jewelry and Decorhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SoEclectic/~3/m-EFeFnhL-o/
http://soeclectic.com/2012/08/30/tying-the-knots-knot-jewelry-and-decor/#commentsThu, 30 Aug 2012 21:25:59 +0000http://soeclectic.com/?p=5993Today is Kyle and my fourth wedding anniversary! Rather than being all super-romantic in designing a little treasury, I’m sticking with a tying the knot theme. Probably because I’m obsessed with knotted hair ties. I have two different kinds and I love how they are so comfy as bracelets, cute, and mix-and-matchable with clothes and each other. Perfect.